SOUTH AFRICA 177(73.3 OVERS)

2ND INNINGS

That's all we have for you. Here's Sid Monga's report for those who want to bask in a great day of Indian cricket. Ranking up there with Leeds 2002 or Perth 2008 or Lords 2014 (those are the ones I can remember) Equally, if not more important to note is the fact that South Africa have won the series, looking a class apart in Cape Town, and adapting to a weird wicket well in Centurion. The 13 723 people who came to the Wanderers today will certainly be happy about that. Thanks for you lot here, making ball-by-ball ever so much fun. But now we have to part ways. Remember me though. This is Al Muthu craving attention.

Faf du Plessis comes up, to collect the awards for winning the series. "I thikn India outplayed us in this Test. We didn't take our chances. We were just sloppy. From a bowling poiint of view, we weren't consistent. Our fielding was pretty average. And with the bat, it was tough conditions. We were surprised how well the pitch played this morning, Hashim and Dean great partnership. But the history of this wicket tells you the ball does a bit more late in the day.
We can only blame ourselves. Extremely happy to win the series. But if you told me 2-1 before this series, I would've bitten the hand off. India have played great wicket, but we were deserved winnings. Lot of one-day cricket against a very strong Indian team, and then Australia, and we will take confidence into there

Vernon Philander is Man of the Series, playing his 50th Test. "Sorry we couldn't win this one, but happy with my performances. Able to stand up with the bat in crucial situations. We'd have loved to pull this one off too, was my 50th Test, but India played better. Will give the body a break for a week, and then start preparing for the Australia Tests

.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is Man of the Match for his all-round performance"Very happy. Whenever I get the chance, I try to do well and it came good at the right moment. I always enjoy batting, when it comes to Tests. It wasn't an easy wicket but I wanted to stay there as long as possible and luckily runs came too. It was an amazing track to bowl on, there were a few awkward balls, but overall it was good."

5.25 pm Here's Virat Kohli: "Lovely. We required some character playing on a pitch that was very difficult. I think our guys showed great guts throug hthe four days. We took the challenge. Batting first wasn't a call that went down well with some people, but we knew it was the right call. We knew we were close in the first two games. This was perfect. Elgar and Amla played really well, although it was not easy. You expect that from South Africa. But one thing I know is that when wickets go down, in pressure situations, its very difficult to come back. And the other good thing was we didn't leak runs. The bowlers are a big positive. Sixty wickets in a series is rare, and if the batsmen step up, they understand they need to and they did in this game and the win feels really great. Need bowlers confident to win Tests and as batsmen, we need to think about our game, prepare better and I'm sure we can win more often away from home.

5.15 pm An angry Kohli takes a bow, a signal of pure irony. He has played two spectacular innings on a pitch that held a special grudge for the batsmen. He was unhappy in Centurion, at his team-mates, at match-officials, at basically everything because the series was gone. But India arrived in Johannesburg. They got their selections right. They made the right call at the toss, and at the time many doubted it. Why would a team stack themselves with five bowlers and bat on a green pitch? Well this is why? India knew it would become terrible for batting in the last innings. And it did. South Africa were 124 for 1 and looked favourites to win until as late as 20 minutes before tea. Then they end up 177 all out. This will go down as one of India's most famous victories. The pitch was against them. They faced down a scary bowling attack. Bested the pitch. And found a way to prevent a whitewash.

But Poor Dean Elgar. He carries his bat for his troubles, but that would be little consolation. It was a high-quality innings, full of courage and unreal application. It's a shame very few of his team-mates could support him.

Cricket's done, but there's plenty of football to come today, with Real Madrid taking on Valencia, PSG hosting Montpellier and Liverpool facing West Brom in the FA Cup. You can watch all those games here.

Ravish: "WE WANT ONE MORE TEST! "

Rudra Varma: "That is undoubtedly India's one of the best ever test wins home or away. Absolute grit, determination and courage shown by the batsmen. Given the treacherous pitch, both India and SA batsmen showed tremendous courage. Riveting !!! With the right (and sensible) team selection, India might have even won the series. Remember, first 2 tests were competed evenly for most of the time. what a wonderful series. Test cricket at its best "

Ebin: "The best test match ive ever seen . Even the Ashes wasnt this good. Outstanding cricket .Kudos to both teams."

Suramya: "Barring Three bad periods of play and bizarre selection calls before this test.. this could have been an entirely different scoreline.. also, SA and elgar should be very proud of their display"

Rushi: "I would go with Kohli as the MoM. It was a tough pitch to bat on and that was the difference. Amla was good too, but Kohli may edge out"

73.3

W

Mohammed Shami to Ngidi, OUT, another appeal for caught behind and the wicketkeeper is confident enough to signal the DRS himself. Back of a length delivery that Ngidi thrusts his hands at.... and there's a noise as the ball passes the bat... Ultra-Edge confirms it... Shami has five! India win!

Mohammed Shami to Ngidi, no run, half an appeal for lbw but umpire Gould is unmoved and Kohli flashes a smirk, as if he knows they were pushing it with the shout. Right, now to the ball, back of a length, outside off, gets a little waft from the No. 11

73.1

0

Mohammed Shami to Ngidi, no run, short ball, outside off, lets it go

Shami v Ngidi. Two slips, gully close in, short leg as well

END OF OVER:

73 | 10 Runs | SA: 177/9

D Elgar86 (240b)

L Ngidi4 (3b)

B Kumar18-4-39-1

Mohammed Shami12-2-28-4

Amit: "How ironical is it. The man who was stuck yesterday after which play was stopped, is still standing unconquered. It's like pitch saying that I am not as bad as you have made me with words. Remember the era without helmets, and WI fast bowlers. And before that, uncovered pitches. It seems, Rahane judgement of the pitch was right. "

72.6

6

Kumar to Elgar, SIX runs, heaves a length ball into the stands at deep square leg. There's a man fighting out there. Elgar is not lying down just because it's nine down. He's 14 away from a century! But, Shami now has six balls at the No. 11.

The likelihood of sanctions against the Wanderers for the pitch it produced for the third Test against India will not deter South Africa from continuing to ask curators to prepare surfaces to favour their pace attack